English translation
4987. Narrated Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه: Ḥudhaifa bin Al-Yamān came to ‘Uthmān at the time when the people of Shām and the people of Irāq were waging war to conquer Armīniya and Adharbijān. Ḥudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Shām and Irāq) differences in the recitation of the Qur’ān. So he said to ‘Uthmān, “O chief of the believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book (the Qur’ān) as Jews and the Christians did before them.” So ‘Uthmān sent a message to Ḥafṣa saying, “Send us the manuscript of the Qur’ān so that we may compile the Qur’ānic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscript to you.” Ḥafṣa sent it to ‘Uthmān. ‘Uthmān then ordered Zaid bin Thābit, ‘Abdullāh bin Az-Zubair, Sa’īd bin Al-‘Āṣ and ‘Abdur-Raḥmān bin Ḥārīṭ bin Hishām to copy the (original) manuscript perfectly. ‘Uthmān said to the three Quraishī men, "In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thābit on any point in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish as the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so, and when they had written many copies, 'Uthmān returned the original manuscripts to Hāfša. 'Uthmān sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.